Radar Obstructed

A

Arty_Vandelay

New Member
I just wanted to share my experience commuting in snow flurries with a wet road at around freezing point this morning. While about 10 miles into my 25 mile commute my adaptive cruise control no longer recognized the vehicle ahead of me (which I became aware of when my car got too close to another car). ACC appeared as normal on the instrument panel, however it didn't show the target vehicle (which was clearly in front of me). I immediately disabled cruise control and drove manually.

About five minutes later the radar obstructed message appeared in the instrument panel. I just wanted everyone to be aware that the forward radar might be disabled without warning. This occurred during light snowfall with good visibility albeit with significant road spray. FYI lane keep assist worked fine without the availability of radar.

I have never experienced this on my 2017 Honda Pilot with Honda Sensing, which I believe has its radar located in the lower grill (and obviously a warm engine operating behind it). Photos taken after arriving at work.

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Definitely a concern since it was disabled before alerting you to the fact. Good safety warning for the rest of us. Have you tried waxing the H sensor or treating it with a hydrophobic coating like RainX? I applied it to mine and the camera lenses and this seemed to help prevent large blobs of water from obscuring the picture. Might help w freezing rain/snow. Let us know if you try it.
 
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I have a pilot and have the same issue. Snow sticks to the radar and knocked out ACC and emergency braking. I don't think it is a big deal as you won't be using cruise control when it is snowing and you sure don't want the car to slam on the brakes thinking that big snow flake is a car. :)
 
Driving my new Clarity home from Boise, the same warnings (Radar Obstructed, CMBS off, and Brake System) came on while in a snowstorm. Snow stopped after travelling 140 miles but warnings didn't go off until travelling another 80 miles.
 
I love adaptive cruise. A similar thing happens with my Inifiti, driving when temperature is around the freezing and snow or ice can build up.
Maybe I will design a small wiper for the radar covering. :)
 
I have twice (in similar weather) had that happen and it always clears itself once I park in my garage and things thaw. I can't comment about it not working before getting a warning as there weren't many other cars around and it was having a hard time 'seeing' the lines in the bad weather anyway, so it very well could have stopped functioning like yours and I just didn't notice.

Currently having an issue that I can't get the 2 'warning' messages in the HondaLink app to go away even though the ice melted away over a week ago and I haven't had it disable itself since...
 
Driving in freezing rain today and had the same issue with the Honda Logo on the grill covered in frozen rain. Stopped at a gas station, wiped off the sensor and the radar came back online.

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Depends on the conditions. Straight well treated roads are not nearly the issue of freezing rain, but in many conditions I agree. I had snow falling but the ground as warm so it was barely wet. If it were rain it would have been the equivalent t of a drizzle.
 
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